Back on December 18th last year, Ward Records announced the release of the Composer Series from acclaimed drummer Terry Bozzio. The project features what Bozzio calls a "Life's Work" project and (at least the set that was sent to me for review) contains four (4) CDs and one (1) DVD in its incredible, truly perfect collective set.

For those not in the know, Terry John "Ted" Bozzio is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, twenty six albums with Frank Zappa, and seven albums with Missing Persons. He has been a prolific sideman, playing on numerous releases by other artists since the mid-1970s.

Indeed, he was rightfully inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1997 and his daughter, Marina, is also a drummer and a member of the heavy metal band Aldious.

This all-encompassing 'Composer Series' contains 59 individual pieces or movements of compositions with a painting in a booklet for each title, along with detailed liner notes for each piece, explaining his concepts, feelings, process and approach for each. It is available in a deluxe hard-cover artbook which includes Terry Bozzio's hand drawn illustrations and commentary for each piece, audio CDs and a solo drum performance Blu-Ray shot in Japan in 2015 (w/bonus footage), 192kHz/24bit Hi-Res audio of the 59 pieces on Blu-ray and a bonus DVD including 60min talk session of Terry Bozzio with Masa Ito.

Phew, am I right!! Also, the material is now currently available in CD/DVD (as is this package that I am reviewing today) or 4CD/Blu-ray for record stores, as well as in many or individual downloadable formats online, of course.

Release Formats:

Direct sales only Premium Edition / 4CD + Blu-ray + Hi-Res Audio Blu-ray + Bonus DVD (region free) - WRDZZ-334 (Limited to 500 sets): All discs are enclosed in a hard-cover book along with Terry's hand-drawn paintings and commentary (includes Japanese translations), with Terry's autograph. Fans purchasing the Premium Edition could participate an album listening event and autograph session with Terry Bozzio on 18th December 2015 *Details to be announced at a later date.

Terry Bozzio fulfilled a major 2 and 1/2 month US solo tour in 2014 in which he displayed his art as a stage set while performing melodic, tuned melodies on his strikingly large drum set, to sold out crowds. "I thought it would be great to share this music which I've been working on and keeping to myself for so long" he explains. "I hope to show a different side of my expression from what people are used to seeing from my solo drumming. And, I wanted to have an abstract painting to represent and be paired with each title to create this hybrid project of music and art," he further explains.